Railroad spike



Jan. 1925- 1,523,195

S F. s. HARRINGTON RAT LROAD SPIKE Filed March 27, 1924,

WITNESSES IN V EN TOR b v S EWINK S. HfiRR/NG a/v W A TTORNE YS FRANK s.HARRINGTON, or'sLoATsBURG, NEW .YoRK.

RAILROAD SPIKE.

Application filed March 27, 1924. Serial No. 702,370.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, FRANK S. HARRING- TON, acitizen of the United States, and a resident of Sloatsburg, in thecounty of Rockland and State of New York, have invented a newfandImproved Railroad Spike, of which the following is a full, clear, and

' exact description.

This invention relates to a new and improved form of railroad spike, andhas for an object the provision of a simple and efficient spikewhich isprovided with means whereby when driyen into a railroad tie it willenter in the manner of a screw and, in 15 a corresponding manner, willbe more diflicultto be removed, either by the action of the trains onthe rails or by reason of any deliberate force applied thereto.

Another object concerns the, provision of means on a spike forpreventing its removal from a tie, such means being very readilyincorporated in the spike in a simple'and economical manner wherebythese spikes can be produced at a low cost. L

The invention is illustrated in the drawings, of whichv v Figure 1 is anelevation of the spike; Fig. 2 is a similar elevation taken at rightangles to Fig. 1;

' Fig. 3 is a plan view of a modified form of spike; and L Fig. 4 is apartial elevation of the modified form. I

The forms of the invention shown in the drawings are preferred forms,although it is understood that modifications in the construction andarrangement of the parts and in the character of the materials used maythe manner of a screw. These grooves are preferably formed with upwardlyfacing shoulders which, as he spike is embedded in the wood of the tie,will be so related with respect to the wood as .to resist any retractivemovement of the spike. The grooves are cut in the spike and each slopesdownwardly and around the spike a given distance.

that the topmost groove curves downwardly and around the spike a givendistance and that the next groove, B, curves downwardly around the spikea similar distance and in the general direction that a continuous spiralcurve would follow A similar course is taken by the successive grooves Cand D. It will be noted that the bottom groove E and another associatedgroove, such as F (see Fig. 2) have shoulders 5 which slope downwardlyand around the groove. These shoulders, however, face downwardly andthen slope is much greater than the slope of the prevlously mentionedshoulders l. A

The reason Why the shoulders 5, formed by cutting grooves near the lowerend of the spike, face downwardly, and the reason why their slope ismuch greater is so that as the spike is driven in these shoulders willact, in encountering the material of the tie, to turn the spike as itadvances into the tie, and by turning the spike will enter the tiewithout disrupting its material too much.

By thus reducing the disruption or dis- It will, therefore, be observed,in the general conception of the invention, that I have provided asimple and. eflicient spike which has formed on it two kinds of grooves.The grooves extending from the top of the spike to a point near thebottom are provided with upwardly facing shoulders and their mainpurpose is to prevent the retractionof the spike, whereas the groovesformed at the bottom of the spike are provided witli'downwardly facingshoulders and a much greater pitch and their main function is tocausethe spike to turn as'itenters the tie. It is also obvious that thesegrooves may be cut in the spike by machinery or by hand or may be 1formed in the-process of casting or otherwise forming the spikes.

In Figs. 3 and 4 the spikehas been modi- 5 fied by cutting one side ofthe, head 3 off, as is usual in railroad spikes, so that excess materialnot necessary is eliminated.

What I claim is A railroad spike, which comprises a body 10 portionhaving a tie entering point and a plurality of spirally disposed groovesthroughout its length, each of said grooves provided with an upwardlyfacing shoulder vvhereby the retraction of the spike from the he isresisted by said shoulder, said spike havlng a plurallty of groovesadjacent the tie entering point provided Withdownward- I FRANKHARRINGTON.

